Etowah Gets an Emotional Victory to Clinch Playoff Berth

The Etowah
Blue Devils (7-2, 5-2) clinched themselves a spot in the playoffs this year
with a 31-3 victory over the Boaz Pirates (2-7, 2-5).”It was a tough week for
us especially after the Southside game, and not to add to the fact that we went
against my Alma Mata it was really hard” said head coach Drew Noles. He went on
to add “We couldn’t get the ball from them the time of possession was in their favor
we just couldn’t get off the field on 3rd down, but we made plays
and got the win.

The Etowah defense
stymied the Pirates early and often as Etowah’s Darius Moore intercepted a Boaz
pass and returned it to the Etowah 40 where three plays later Paul Ruiz would
run 13 yards to pay dirt and give the Blue Devils a 7-0 lead with 6:41
remaining in the quarter.

On the very
next Boaz possession the Blue Devil defense struck again this time a scoop and
score from Gorgeous Hardwick to increase the lead 14-0 with 5:29 in the quarter.
As Etowah was driving down the field the Boaz defense stepped up and recovered a
fumble from a backwards pass, but the Etowah defense stood tall once again as
Devin Horton intercepted a pass on the two yard line to end the half.

The second half started off with a bang for the Blue Devils
as Stacy Williams took the first play 50 Yards for a score to extend the lead
21-0. The Pirates would string together
a drive to get themselves on the board with 6:00 to go in the third quarter.

Etowah answered
back draining the clock on a 12 play drive to get a Field Goal with 15 seconds
remaining in the quarter.

Etowah would score their final points of the game with a Kordell
Rudolph touchdown pass on 4th down play to Jordan Powell.

Etowah was led on offense by Running back Paul Ruiz who
totaled 90 yards and a score Stacy Williams who also scored and tallied 79
yards on the night.